He hopes customers don't sink money in his business.

• Position: People - Brief Article

Marty Foerster grew up tooling around Barnagett Bay, off Long Beach Island, N.J., in an aluminum johnboat that his grandfather had given him. "I just loved it. I went all over the place on that boat."

Now he's found a way to turn his boyhood passion into a livelihood. His Wrightsville Beach-based Reliant Marine LLC sets up time shares for boats. Reliant pulls together four-person partnerships to buy the craft. Each owner pays a quarter of the purchase price, plus fees for setting up the partnership, securing the bank loan and maintenance. A typical customer is Jerry Doyle, a retired Charlotte information-technology executive, whose group is buying a 39-foot yacht for $276,000. "I don't have the time to enjoy a boat full time," he says.

Foerster, 43, hopes to put together eight ownership groups this year but won't project his revenues. He also contracts out to provide maintenance for boat owners who aren't part of his time shares. For now, he runs Reliant part time, devoting the rest of his attention to his market research consulting business.

He came to North Carolina to attend N.C. State, where he earned a bachelor's in mechanical engineering in 1982. After college, he...